A big thank you to those have favourited/followed/reviewed this story!
A short answer to guest reviewer JoanOver: I certainly hope that no person, police officer or not, could get away with the things Joe Morelli has done in the first chapters. It is to show that something is not right at the TPD, and that someone higher up is helping Morelli.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.
Italics - Spanish
Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.
Chapter 5. It´s a dateOn Sunday one minute before one o'clock Annie´s entry phone rang.
"Hello."
"It´s Tank."
"Come on up."
She buzzed him in, and went to the apartment door.
When the knock came she checked the peephole, and then opened, after disengaging the door bolt.
Tank was standing outside dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a cream sweater. He looked absolutely delicious, Annie thought.
"Hi. These are for you," and he gave a bouquet of mixed flowers, mainly in blue and white.
"Thank you, they look lovely. Come in. I'll just put them in a vase, but first…"
She stood on her toes again, to give him a welcome kiss.
Tank kissed her back, and then Annie went into the kitchen.
"Dinner's in the kitchen. Come on inside."
Tank followed her.
Annie was on her tiptoes again, reaching for a vase on one of the shelves in the kitchen cupboard.
"Let me help."
"Thanks. It would be a shame to get a crick in the neck for something like that," she teased.
Tank reached for the vase.
"Are there things you'd consider worth a crick in the neck?"
"Hopefully." Annie let her gaze slowly wander from his feet to his head.
A timer went off before anything else happened. Annie took out a dish from the oven, and put on the table. Tank put the flowers in the vase.
"Thanks." Annie gave him a smile and put the flowers on the table, after taking a small appreciative sniff.
"Mmmm. Please have a seat."
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Everything´s ready, and this isn´t a big kitchen, so I think the easiest way is if you sit down and I put the things on the table."
Tank sat down.
"Since I'm half British and all vegetarian I´ve made a vegetarian Shepherd's pie. I hope it´s OK."
"It smells delicious, and I'm sure it will taste as good."
They ate the pie, homemade bread and salad, while talking.
"You said you´re half British, what´s the other half?"
"Swedish. My mum is Swedish, and she moved to Britain after she met my dad on an international dentists´ conference. They started their own clinic, and had me rather late. I´m an only child. My parents are just now thinking of selling the clinic and retiring. Dad´s already seventy, and mum´s in her sixties."
"Did they want you to follow in their steps?"
"Probably, but they never pushed me. And it was quite obvious I wasn't interested. I´ve had my nose in a book since I was three years old. I was bilingual in English and Swedish, and then I learned French, German, Russian, Latin and ancient Greek. I can read quite a few more languages as well. Right now I'm in Trenton for a private collection of papyri, written in ancient Greek."
"Wow. My Spanish´s alright, and I speak some French, but that's it. Well, I can swear in quite a few more."
Annie laughed.
"There has been a few studies concerning languages, and most believe there is a genetic element if you're able to learn a lot or at least relatively fast. My maternal grandmother was a linguist, and spoke ten languages, and could read at least five more. Mum speaks four. Dad speaks English and passable French, that's all."
Annie cleared the table.
"Would you like some coffee with dessert?"
"I would like a pause so I have room for more, if that´s OK. Let me do the dishes in the meantime."
"OK, but I´d like to hear something about you as well. Where are you from?"
"Originally I grew up in Louisiana, but we moved out of there to Newark when I was ten. And even though I was big I got rid of my Southern drawl quickly, not to get picked on. I have a younger sister, who´s married with two kids. None of my parents are alive today. I have a bunch of cousins, but I´ve not met them since forever. I joined the Army when I was eighteen, and got out when I was twenty-eight."
Tank did the dishes, and Annie dried them and put them away.
"Thanks for the dinner, it was really good."
"I like to cook occasionally, but usually don't bother if it´s just me. So - coffee or tea?"
"I´d love some coffee."
"Maybe I should warn you. When it comes to coffee I´m Swedish, and for tea I´m English. Both tend to get quite strong."
"That sounds good."
They sat down and had coffee with dessert – a chocolate cake with fruit salad on the side, and whipped cream.
"If it´s OK with you I believe I need some fresh air after all this food. You´re a great cook, and it's been delicious, but I´ve eaten far too much."
"I´d like some fresh air as well. There´s a park nearby that's quite nice. I usually go there when I go out for a run."
"That sounds good."
x x x
The park was rather small, and there were just a few people, mostly families with small children, around. Annie and Tank strolled, and continued talking about themselves and also what Annie thought of Trenton.
"In some ways it's quite different, and in other ways I don't even think of the fact that I´m not in Europe. I appreciate the fact that most people are quite friendly when I ask them something. I suppose what Cal called my 'posh accent' makes it quite clear that I´m from somewhere else. But I've met people convinced that I'm American, they just can place my accent."
A ball came their way, and Annie easily kicked it back to the children playing.
"I used to play football. Not the American kind, but the one the rest of the world calls football."
Tank laughed.
"I´ve tried that one too, but was told that I was more built for the American variety. Were you any good?"
"Not good enough to be a pro, but I played in a team until I started at Cambridge, and then I played for the university´s A-team. I didn't have the time for it when I started on my PhD, so I quit."
"What position?"
"Goalie. If you think that you didn't have the right build for a football player, I can say that most women players today are more muscular than I ever could be. But I´m a good build for goalie, even though I could have been a bit taller."
Tank opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.
"What?" Annie said.
Tank looked flustered.
"I´m sorry. I didn't want to be disrespectful, and I couldn't word it the way I wanted it to sound."
"Try."
"You look like you have the perfect build."
"Thank you for the compliment. It didn't sound disrespectful at all, and I would like to return the compliment. And I see a bench over there under the tree where I would like to see if I can avoid a crick in the neck."
Tank had never been stupid, a bit quiet maybe, but never stupid. He instantly set course for the park bench, almost towing Annie behind him. Tank sat down on the bench, and pulled on Annie's hand until she sat down across his legs.
"Is this OK?"
"Let´s try it out."
It seemed it was the perfect position, because they sat there kissing for quite a while. When Annie shifted position she could feel an impressive bulge in Tank´s trousers.
"Sorry."
"I´m not. It´d been more awkward if I didn't have any effect on you."
"You definitely have an effect on me."
Annie gave him a small smile, and rubbed their noses together in an Eskimo kiss.
"How about the movies?"
"Good idea."
They went back to the parking lot, where Tank had parked his car. It was a red Corvette, and Annie looked appreciatively at it.
"Nice."
Tank smiled, and opened the door for her.
x x x
At the cinema they looked at the movies available.
"This could be something of an obstacle," Annie said. "To somewhat ease your fears, I don't want to see a chick flick, but I don't want to see anything too violent either. Horror movies and war movies are totally out."
They looked at the posters, and decided to see the new Marvel movie. Tank bought the tickets while Annie got them popcorn and sodas. When they went in to the cinema they found seats in the back, and settled in.
The movie was alright, and then they decided to eat at a small Indian restaurant Annie liked.
Afterwards Tank drove her home.
"I´ll just walk you to your door."
"I had a great time."
"Me too. And I´d like to go out with you again if you…."
Annie gave him a quick kiss.
"I´d like that. I'll be at work all day tomorrow, but if you call me we can hopefully find a time that works."
"I'll do that. I´ll check in with Gazarra as well, and try to find out if there's more going on."
Tank gave her a thorough kiss goodbye, and left.